Clickless Advertising: How to Measure What Isn’t Touched (and Why You Should Start Now)

How do you measure the success of a campaign if no one clicks? In the new cookieless era, the answer is not only possible but essential.

Clickless advertising has gone from being a rarity to a priority for brands focused on brand recognition, mass reach, and effectiveness in environments where the click simply doesn’t exist. With the rise of channels like YouTube on Smart TVs, DOOH, digital audio, and CTV, it is time to move beyond models based solely on direct interaction.

In this post, we tell you what clickless advertising is, why it matters in 2025, and how you can measure it effectively with Google Marketing Platform (GMP) to demonstrate real results in campaigns where visual impact is worth more than the click.

 

What is Clickless Advertising and Why is It Gaining Ground?

 

Clickless advertising encompasses campaigns where the goal is not for the user to click, but for them to remember, recognize, and interact with the brand later on. This type of impact is generated in environments where direct interaction is not possible (or does not make sense):

• YouTube on Connected TV
• Spotify, podcasts, or programmatic audio
• DOOH (Digital Out Of Home), such as digital billboards or screens in shopping centers
• CTV (Connected TV)

With the progressive phasing out of third-party cookies and the increase in media consumption without a browser, measuring without clicks is no longer an option—it is a necessity.

📊 According to Nielsen, 65% of offline sales are influenced by advertising without direct interaction.

 

GMP: Your Ally for Measuring What Cannot Be Clicked

 

The key is to adopt new measurement tools and methods based on aggregated data, modeling, and first-party data. This is where Google Marketing Platform shines as a comprehensive solution:

🎯 Campaign Manager 360: Measuring Impressions and Viewability CM360 allows you to track impressions, viewability, frequency, and cross-channel reach. It is the central hub for validating that your message has reached the right audience.

🧠 Google Analytics 4: Behavior After Exposure Even without clicks, GA4 helps analyze user behavior after viewing an ad: direct traffic, brand searches, completed forms, etc. Thanks to its advanced attribution models, it compensates for the lack of cookies and protects privacy.

🔗 Integrated Platform: GMP as an Ecosystem The combination of CM360 + GA4 + DV360 + SA360 allows for a holistic view of campaign performance, uniting awareness and performance metrics under one umbrella.

 

Strategies That Work (Even if No One Clicks)

 

🧪 Brand Lift and Brand Awareness Use studies like YouTube Brand Lift or post-exposure surveys to measure ad recall, consideration, or purchase intent.

🗺️ Geo-testing and Incrementality Compare exposed and unexposed regions with tools like GeoLift to evaluate the real impact on searches or sales.

👤 First-Party Data and Indirect Signals Analyze direct traffic, brand searches, and completed forms after exposure. Supplement with user panels or surveys.

🔒 Consent Mode v2 and Conversion Modeling Even without cookies, you can estimate conversions with modeling and platforms like Ads Data Hub, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.

 

Real-Life Cases That Prove It

 

• YouTube on CTV: Campaigns with a +20% brand recall, without clicks or calls to action.
• Spotify Ads: Direct correlation between full ad listens and peaks in brand searches.
• DOOH in shopping centers: Increase in store visits (footfall) and geolocated sales following campaigns without digital interaction.

 

Conclusion: Measuring Without Clicks Is Not Only Possible, It Is Essential

 

In a cookieless world with increasingly dispersed consumers, clickless advertising represents the natural evolution of digital marketing. It is no longer just about chasing interactions, but about understanding the real impact of the message on the user’s mind and decisions.

GMP gives you the tools to do this with precision, respect for privacy, and an omnichannel approach.

💬 And you, are you ready to measure without relying on the click? If you want to know how to implement this type of measurement in your strategy, let’s talk. Because the future of marketing is not measured in clicks, but in connections.